Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Whatever your business, advertising and marketing are major aspects of your success (or failure! Eek!). Not every industry uses the those exact terms for the same concept. For example, if you work in many nonprofit sectors, including education, you may hear the term “advocacy” thrown around frequently. In truth, advocacy and marketing are the same idea: making people aware of your product or service, how it can benefit them, and convincing people to invest their time and money on what you offer.

So what is the simplest, most effective way to accomplish this important task?

Be a “product of the product”, a “walking billboard”. Be a living example of the benefits of your industry, service, and products.

If you market health and wellness products, then use those products to achieve and maintain excellent health. If you market jewelry, clothing, or other wearable items, then wear those items with grace and style anywhere you find appropriate. If you advocate fine arts education, then maintain your practice habits and skills, and be an avatar for the character traits you feel your fine arts education developed in you. This is not a complicated idea. It could also be filed under “practice what you preach”. If you want others to value what you have to offer, you must first demonstrate the value that your offerings have for you. Your actions will speak louder than any words you could say.

And here’s the most important part… When someone notices what you are doing, and asks “How did you do that?”, “Where did you get that?”, “How did you develop that skill?”

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

I first ran across this idea from my 9thgrade Speech teacher, Mrs. Beasley, who insisted that we write 5 things we were grateful for every day that semester. That was the first thing we did every single day after getting to our seats. She didn’t take credit for the idea either. She heard the idea one day on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I do not know where Oprah found the idea, but somehow I doubt that it originated with her either.

So I’m dubbing today “Thankful Tuesday”! Sometimes I’ll be thankful for the big, timeless things in my life, like this week. Sometimes I’m certain to be thankful for the seemingly insignificant and fleeting things too!

1. I am thankful for my Christian faith. I probably don’t express that nearly often enough, but I truly am. My faith is the core of my strengths, and the base of every positive character trait I can claim.

2. In the same vein, I am thankful for my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They are amazing examples of how to be a great person who makes a positive difference in the world, of how to live my life as a beacon of hope and love for others. They are avatars of gentle persistent strength in the face of challenge and hardship, and amazing problem solvers. They are a continuing inspiration to me, forever and always.

3. I am thankful for my husband. Sometimes we are blessed far beyond what we deserve. I won’t deny that he also sometimes drives me crazy – but I have no stronger supporter in my corner, no greater ally and teammate, no closer friend…than my husband!

4. I am thankful for my sister. When I need to springboard creative ideas with someone, I look no further than my sister. She is a source of innovation and inspiration, a wellspring of creative solutions to all sorts of life’s problems…both in the personal and professional realms!

5. I am thankful for my son. He is six months old, and being his mother has already taught me so much. But more than anything, he has taught me the value of time…and how every moment of our lives is precious beyond all measure!

We are all on journeys seeking abundance in our lives, wandering along our own paths (or our own stairways to heaven on earth, if you prefer that imagery).

This blog is all about finding and creating abundance in your life - creating financial abundance, and taking special notice of all the forms of abundance already in our lives waiting to be appreciated. This is a place to celebrate and show appreciation for the awesome things in life, both tangible and intangible...and a place to develop new ideas and skills to attract even more awesomeness all around us.

In terms of articles about creating financial abundance, expect to read a great deal about network marketing and direct sales, but also about managing what you already have in your budget. I mention this simply because those are two of the main avenues that I use to enhance the prosperity of my family. There are many other pathways out there, and at some point I'd love to know enough of other people's stories to be able to write about them, or recruit successful individuals for guest posts on how they have achieved their high levels of success and abundance. (Without a doubt, I know that the word "persistence" is going to be involved.)

As for the myriad other ways that we experience abundance - spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, etc - it has been my experience that the more I take notice of the great abundance of these gifts in my life, the greater they become simply by my acknowledgement and appreciation. Which is pretty awesome all by itself. So expect to read quite a bit of me pointing out cool things I see going on in the world around me too. I know there's plenty going on in the world that is, in fact, completely terrible and horrific...but this place is set aside for empowering great things, not lamenting the problems and challenges we all still face. Any mention here of problems and challenges will be in the context of solving and overcoming them, on the way to finding greater happiness and fulfillment.

An interesting note here, is that while many forms of abundance seem to increase automatically just by paying closer attention to what already exists around you...is that increasing financial abundance seems to require more than simple awareness and appreciation. While those actions certainly help, they are not enough alone. Which is one of the main reasons why increasing financial abundance will be a major subject of exploration and study!